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Perhaps it has more to do with their products being twice as expensive for consumers than competitor products during a period when the consumers are more price conscious. Walmart has their knockoffs of the Hostess snackcakes; Little Debbie has some comparable cakes at a cheaper price, etc. They may not have tasted 100% the same, but a two minute sugar and cinnamon fix isn't an upscale experience worthy of an upscale price.

Agreed, however, their flagship products were superior in taste and they failed to advertise that effectively. There are plenty of Twinkie knock-offs and they all taste like crap, a carload of sugar mixed together. The Twinkie, the Ding Dong, whatever, they were all "treats", as in one in a while snack. They're not meant to be lived on (though some apparently try).

Unions are trying to get better wages for workers. You do realize, of course, that workers have become 300% as productive as they were in 1947, but have only received about a 100% wage increase since then? Workers are giving Corporations far more than they're getting in return.

Get used to workers fighting for better wages - nationwide. Your beloved CEOs get better pay as time goes on. Workers are people, too.

Isn't amazing that when businesses fail it's always the workers' fault -- never management's fault for being ****ty at managing the company.

Well, no. I have not seen unions taking blame except when, as in this case, they deserve some of the blame. It's especially dramatic in this case: Union strikes --> Company goes out of business.

The fact is that Interstate Bakeries (Hostess' parent company) has been failing for a long time due to its inability to adapt to a changing marketplace. That's not to say that the union was right in digging in its heels, but let's not ignore management's share of the blame.

Duely noted. However, the union has been especially stupid, going on strike when they did. And yes, that is their fault.

"The urge to save humanity is almost always a false front for the urge to rule." --HL Mencken

Unions are trying to get better wages for workers. You do realize, of course, that workers have become 300% as productive as they were in 1947, but have only received about a 100% wage increase since then? Workers are giving Corporations far more than they're getting in return.

Get used to workers fighting for better wages - nationwide. Your beloved CEOs get better pay as time goes on. Workers are people, too.

Technically it is technology not work that is making them 300% more productive. They are not the ones who bought the technology so why should they reap all the marginal profits from it, or any of it for that matter if there is someone else who would be willing to do their job for less?

Unions are trying to get better wages for workers. You do realize, of course, that workers have become 300% as productive as they were in 1947, but have only received about a 100% wage increase since then? Workers are giving Corporations far more than they're getting in return.

Get used to workers fighting for better wages - nationwide. Your beloved CEOs get better pay as time goes on. Workers are people, too.

Perhaps it has more to do with their products being twice as expensive for consumers than competitor products during a period when the consumers are more price conscious. Walmart has their knockoffs of the Hostess snackcakes; Little Debbie has some comparable cakes at a cheaper price, etc. They may not have tasted 100% the same, but a two minute sugar and cinnamon fix isn't an upscale experience worthy of an upscale price.

So some people are wont to blame management, pointing to the fact that Hostess products are more expensive than the competition. Is it management's fault if labor costs are high and can't be reduced because of union intransigence? Perhaps they should have moved their production to Mexico a long time ago; that would have been a smart management decision.

It looks like Hostess was beset by two problems, higher production costs, more competition, and, no make that three problems, higher production costs, more competition, and declining appeal for low end high carb snacks. A big part of the lack of flexibility in responding to those challenges is the lack of flexibility of the union.

I realize that many unions have shown flexibility and a willingness to work with the companies when market forces change, but apparently this union was not flexible.

In any case, the union movement richly deserves to have the death of the Twinkie hung around its neck.

"The urge to save humanity is almost always a false front for the urge to rule." --HL Mencken